Rainfall deficiencies intensify in northwest and central Australia

The Bureau of Meteorology announced today that
rainfall deficiencies
intensified and spread in northwest and central Australia, as a result of
below to very much below average
February rainfall. What essentially amounts to a failure of the monsoon
in these areas, has been accompanied by unusually high temperatures,
particularly during January and February. Many of the areas affected by
rainfall deficiencies recorded a mean maximum temperature for February that was
3 to 5°C above the long-term average. Paraburdoo was the hottest place in
the country - maximum temperatures averaged 43.3°C there for the month of
February. And the summer (Dec-Feb) mean maximum temperatures in the Pilbara
were among the highest on record in Australia.

8-month rainfall deficiencies

For the 8-month period from July to February,
a large area of severe rainfall deficiencies straddles the WA/NT border with a
broad zone spreading to the southeast over Alice Springs to the northeast
corner of South Australia. Lowest on record falls have occurred in
a large region north of Giles and in a small area close to Alice Springs.
Patches of rainfall deficits are also evident in far southwest Queensland and
the far northwest of NSW.

There was also continued expansion and intensification of deficiencies
in the Pilbara in WA, with lowest on record falls evident near and to the
southeast of Port Hedland. Above average falls largely removed the small
patch of serious deficiencies that existed in northeast Tasmania at the end
of January.

Large regions in southern and eastern Australia continue to experience
deficiencies for periods longer than two years and only a prolonged period
of above average rainfall will remove them.